Trimble de boode



T. DE ROODE. MOVING PICTURE-FI[M.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 12. 1915.

Patented Dec. 9, 1919.

uoooood m0 6 0 0 0 v O O O O Q W woooocvveoooo 6 7 TRIMIBLE DE ROODE, OFNEW YORK, N. Y.

MOVING-PICTURE FILM.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 9, 1919.

Application filed November 12, 1915. Serial No. 61,022.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, TRIMBLE DE Rooon, a subject of the Queen of Holland,residing in the city, county, and State of New York, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in Moving-Picture Films; and I dohereby declare the following to be a full,'clear, and exact descriptionof the invention, such as will enable'others skilled in the art to whichit appertains to make and use'the same.

This invention relates to the production of films for use'in projectingpictures of objects in motion and is directed to the provision of a filmof a novel character whereby movin picture representations may be morerea ily understood, whereby new effects in moving picture productionsmay be secured and whereby the use of inserts of printed matterexplanatory of the action depicted'in the pictures is made unnecessary.

The inventio n involves the provision of a moving picture film consistiof a succession of pictures of moving (i jects and including a series ofsuccessive pictures which have words thereon representing soundsemanating from the persons. or other objects depicted in the pictures.The words may represent sounds occasioned by inaminate objects, such,for instance, as a falling body or an explosive, or they may representwords spoken by persons depicted in the plctures.

A film of the character contemplated by the invention may be employedfor the representation "of scenes which cannot now besatisfactorilydepicted without resort to frequent inserts'of printed matter becausethe action represented by the'pictures would not be understood withoutthe aid of the explanatory inserts. As is well recognized, the use ofsuch inserts of printed matter is objectionable and therefore it hasbeen the effort of makers of moving picture films heretofore to reducethe number of such inserts as much as possible or eliminate thementirely". Again, it is often desirable to communicate to an audiencewitnessing a moving picture reproduction a conversation or the salientfeatures of a conversation between characters depicted in the picturessimultaneousl with the production of the pictures so that the spokenwords will be understood by the audience as the actions accompany ingthem are 'seen. By means of films made in accordance with the presentinvention,

.words spoken by the characters depicted which would not be fullyappreciated if only the objects themselves and their movements wererepresented.

In accordance with the invention, the film is produced by taking amultiplicity of pietures of moving objects by photography andsuperimposing upon a series of successive pictures words indicating thesounds emanating from the objects depicted. In the case of words spokenby the characters depicted, such words would be positioned close to thecharacter speaking them so that it would be apparent which one of theseveral c-harcters depicted spoke the words represented. By producingthe pictures by photographing actual objects in motion as distinguishedfrom photographing a series of drawings varied successively to producethe effectof motion, more realistic representations of the objectsdepicted may be obtained and the characters photographed may be made tospeak the words which are subse quently superimposed upon the pictures,as a result of which the actions and expressions of the characters willbe more appropriate to the Words to be displayed in connection withthose pictures.

I have found that superior eflects can be i obtained by progressivelychanging the position of the printed words upon successive pictures ofthe series upon Which the words are produced. Thus, in the case of wordsspoken by a person represented in the pictures, the words may be soarranged upon successive pictures that when the pictures are projected,the words will appear to move away from the speaker. If the speaker ismoving in one direction, the words may be so arranged that they willappear to move in the same direction but at a greater rate, in whichcase they will appear to recede from the speaker. If the speaker bemoving in the opposite direction, the position of the words may remainunchanged-but the same efi'ect willbe produced in that the words willappear to move from the speaker.

sive pictures until the desired degree of definition of the Words hasbeen reached. Similarly, it is objectionable to have the .reproductionof the words cease abruptly and I therefore arrange the words upon thefilm so that the projection thereof decreases in distinctnessprogressively through several successive pictures and then disappears.

These and other features of the invention will be better understood byreference to the following description taken in connection with theaccompanying drawing. The drawing represents a series of ipicturesconstituting a moving picture lm, broken away so as to show fifteen ofthe many pictures of the film, it being understood that certainadditional pictures appear between each pair of adjacent picturesrepresented in the drawing. The fifteen pictures illustrated arenumbered consecutively.

.The series of pictures illustrated in the drawing represents twocharacters, one of which enters from the right and proceeds toward theother who is seated at the left. As the man proceeds from the righttoward the left, he addresses the character at the left and the wordsspoken by him are su erimposed u on the film so that they wil bereproduce by projection upon the screen. The several pictures of thefilm are prepared by taklng a series of moving picture photographs ofthe persons represented. After-the pictures have been so taken and thenegatives developed, the words spoken by the characters are superimposedupon the negatives of the pictures and any desired.

number of positives is prepared from the negative. Or, the words may besuperimposed upon the positive film after it has been prepared from thenegative. In either case, the pictures are produced by a photographicprocess and the words are superimposed upon the ictures, preferablyafter the reparation of the pictures themselves has een completed.

Two or more pictures are supposed to inter ene between the first andsecond of those illustrated on the drawing. The second pictureillustrated has the letters of a word superimposed thereon adjacent tothe character at the right who is sup osed to speak that word. Thisbeing the first icture of the series upon which that wor appears, theword is made to appear indistinctly as by showing the letters in outlineonly. In the pictures following the second, the letters of the wordbecome more definite so that in the third picture illustrated theletters of the word are solid letters which will cause the projection ofthat word to be shown with its full degree of definition. After the wordhas been displayed with the full degree of distinctness for therequisite time interval, as it will be by means of the third and fourthpictures Illustrated and the several pictures supposed to intervenebetween them, the representation of the word becomes less distinctagain, as is indicated in the fifth picture where the letters of theword are shown in outline only.

By printin the Words upon the several pictures in-t is manner, when thefilm is reproduced by projection, the word will first appearindistinctly, will then grow to its full degree of definition andthereafter will decrease in distinctness until it finally disappears atthe time of producing the sixth picture shown in thedrawing.

By reference to the second, third and fourth pictures in the drawing, itwill be noted that the position of the word displayed thereon changes insuccessive pictures so that it appears to move from the characterspeaking that word. Inthis instance, the character is shown as movingacross the picture and the position of the word is made to change sothat the word moves across the picture in the same direction as that inwhich. the character is moving but at a higher rate so that in theprojection of the pictures, the word will appear to recede from thespeaker. This progressive change in the position of the spoken word aidsin producing the desired impression, that is,-in indicating which of thecharacters speaks the word represented and the action which-accompaniedthe speaking of that word.

The sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth pietures of the series illustratedin the drawings show the second Word spoken-by the character at the leftand represent that word in the manner above described so that the wordwill initially appear indistinctly, will thereafter increaseprogressively in distinctness and finally, after It has been displayedfor the requisite time interval, will decrease in definition so as tofade from sight rather than disap ar abruptly. Also, as above described,t e position of the word is caused to change upon successive pictures sothat in the reproduction of the pictures upon the screen the word willappear to move away from the speaker.

The tenth, eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth pictures represented in thedrawing, together with the several pictures intervening between themhave imprinted thereon a word spoken by the character at the left of thepicture. This word is also displayed in such manner as to cause it toappear faintly, grow in dist-inctness progressively in successivepictures and then fade away. Also, this word is so positioned uponsuccessive pictures that in the reproduction of the pictures, the wordappears to move'away from the speaker. The last four pictures representa word spoken by the character at the rightwhile he is moving toward theright. In this instance as in the others, the position of the word inthe several successive pictures is so selected as to cause the word toappear to recede from the speaker. As the speaker is then moving towardthe right, the actual position of the word with reference to the borderof the picture may remain unchanged but the desired efiect will beproduced in that the distance between the word and the speaker willprogressively increase in successive pictures.

In each of the representations above described, the word imprinted uponthe pictures may be caused to increase in size in successive pictures torepresent a rising inflection or an increasing volume of sound or asharp or unusually loud noise. ,This is best illustrated in the case ofthe last four pictures illustrated where the word spoken by thecharacter at the right is shown as progressively increasing in size soas to convey the impression of an increase in sound intensity.

Vhile I have illustrated and described the features of the invention inconnection with pictures of people, it must be understood that they mayalso be employed in connection with films showing inanimate objects torepresent sounds emanating from such objects. For instance, in thereproduction of a series of pictures showing a falling body andunaccompanied by words, it might not be apparent at once to an audiencethat the dropping of the body upon the floor or ground was accompaniedby a loud and sharp noise. The desired impression would be conveyedinstantly if the reproduction of the pictures included the word Bang ora word of similar import close to the point of impact of the fallingbody, and moving from that point progressively in successive picturesand increasing in size in successive pictures.

It will be noted that in the drawing the pictures are shown as arrangedto display a sentence spoken by one of the characters word by word. Thisis the procedure which I prefer to employ. One word of the sentnce isproduced alone and continued through a series of successive pictures,the word first appearing indistinctly, then being displayed distinctlythrough a succession of pictures and finally becoming indistinct anddisappearing. Then the next word of the sentence is displayed in likemanner through a series of pictures, then the third word through a thirdseries of pictures and so on. Each word is displayed distinctly duringthe projection of the pictures representing the action indicated by thatword and at least long enough to permit the audience to read it and thenthe next word of the sentence is displayed. In this way, a veryrealistic effect may be produced as the spectator not only witnesses theactions of the characters depicted but also realizes what the characterssay. if desired, the words spoken by the characters may be produced asentence at a time, particularly if the sentences be short, but I preferthe former procedure for the reasons that when a sentence is displayedas a whole, it must endure through a longer series of pictures and thecorrespondence be tween the actions of the characters and the individualwords is less apparent.

What ll claim is:

1. A motion picture film comprising a multiplicity of photographs ofactual characters in motion, the said photographs being arranged insequence, a series of successive pictures in the sequence which show thecharacters in motion having words thereon representing sounds emanatingfrom the characters depicted, said words being associated in the picturewith the character from whom they are supposed to emanate, and thepositions-of the word or words in the several pictures of. the seriesbeing changed progressively in successive pictures so that when the filmis projected the Word or words appear to move in the picture as thecharacter speaking moves.

2. A motion picture film comprising a multiplicity of'photographs ofactual characters in motion, the said photographs being arranged insequence, a series of successive pictures in the sequence which show thecharacters in motion having words thereon, and the positions of the wordor words in the several pictures of the series being changedprogressively in successive pictures so that when the film is projectedthe Word or words are displayed adjacent to the char acter from whichthey are supposed to emanate and appear to move in the picture away fromthe mouth of the character speakmg.

3. AL motion picture film comprising a. multiplicity of photographs ofactual characters in motion, the said photographs being arranged insequence, a series of successive pictures in the sequence which show thecharacters in motion having words thereon representing sounds emanatingfrom the characters depicted, and the positions of the word or words inthe several pictures of the series being changed progressively insuccessive pictures so that when the film is projected the word or wordsappear to move in the picture as the character speaking moves but at adifferent rate from that at j cessive pictures so that when the film isprojected, the words appear to move in the pictures away from the mouthof the character speaking.

5. A motion picture film comprising a multiplicity of photographs ofactual characters in motion, the said photographs being arranged insequence, a series of successive pictures in the sequence which show thecharacters in motion having words thereon representing sounds emanatingfrom the characters depicted, and the representations of a word or wordsupon successive pictures of the series being such that when the icturesare projected, the word or words first appear indistinctly, then becomedistinct by progressive'steps, and at the end of the series of picturesbecome indistinct by progressive steps. I, I

6. A motion picture film comprising a multiplicity of photographs ofactual characters in motion, the said photographs being arranged insequence, a series of successive pictures in the sequence showing thecharacters in motion having words thereon representing sounds emanatingfrom the characters depicted, and the representations of a word or wordsupon the pictures changing in size upon successive pictures of theseries.

7. A .motion picture film comprising a multiplicity of photographs ofactual characters in motion, the said photographs being arranged insequence, said film having a series of successive pictures showing thecharacters in motion, each of said successive pictures having on thebody thereof wordsdescriptive of the action portrayed and indicativelyassociated with the character from whom they are supposed to emanate,the relative positions of the word or words and the character with whomthey are associated being progressively changed in successive picturesso that when the film is projected the word or words appear in thepicture to move away from the character.

8. A motion picture film comprising a multiplicity of photographs ofactual characters in motion, the said photographs being arranged insequence, said film having a series of successive pictures showing thecharacters in motion, each of said successive pictures having on thebody thereof words descriptive of the action portrayed and indicativelyassociated with the character from whom they are supposed to emanate,the representations of the word or words upon successive pictures of theseries being such that when the film is projected the word or wordsfirst appear indistinctly and then become distinct by progressive stepsand then gradually fade away.

9. A motion picture film comprising a multiplicity of photographs ofactual characters in motion, the said photographs being arranged insequence, said film having a series of successive pictures showing thecharacters in motion, each of said successive pictures having on thebody thereof words descriptive of the action portrayed and indicativelyassociated with the character from whom they are supposed to emanate,the relative positions of the word or words and the character with whomthe are associated in the several pictures of t e series beingprogressively changed in successive pictures so that when the film isprojected the word or words appear in the picture to move relativelyaway from the character, the representations of the word or words uponsuccessive pictures of the series being further such that when the filmis projected the word or words first appear indistinctly and then becomedistinct by progressive steps, and then gradually fade away.

In'testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

TRIMBLE on ROODE.

